Quick question, has smogon ever tried to ban an ability on a pokemon? For example, certain pokemon in OU would not be allowed to use Speed Boost...this would make Blaziken unbanned, or Excadrill isn't allowed to have Sand Rush

Quick question, has smogon ever tried to ban an ability on a pokemon? For example, certain pokemon in OU would not be allowed to use Speed Boost...this would make Blaziken unbanned, or Excadrill isn't allowed to have Sand Rush

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It is brought up over time as a possibility, but neglected so far. The closest you will get is the sand veil discussion, but it got banned as a whole. For more information, see this thread.

I have a question. I play the metagame from time to time, and love researching teams and Pokemon. My question is this: How viable is a Trick Room Team in Singles?

I love Trick Room Teams (maybe since a ton of my favorite Pokemon are slow) and have fun experimenting with them, but I know the switch to a sweeper hurts, and a lot of guides I see for Trick Room teams assume you are playing in Doubles. The thing is, I'm not very good at Doubles, and I absolutely LOVE to play Singles. I've had some success with Singles TR Teams, but... how viable are they really? Was I just lucky a few times?

Any tips/advice/answers will be greatly appreciated! :3 Thanks in advance!

Moderator

They are somewhat viable, but currently they suffer from the fact that the metagame is simply too fast and furious to let you set up trick room, plus it's very easy to stall out the four (three if you have to swap out your setter) turns you get with trick room, giving you two or less turns for the effort required. They CAN work, but the level of effort you have to put in to make them work compared to the big 5 (Sand, Sun, Rain, Hyper Offense, Baton Pass) simply is not worth it.

Jirachi and Bronzong are pretty much going to be your best setters. Make sure your abusers aren't weak to common priority and are decently tanky with attack stats high enough to be worthwhile. Put in a lot of effort. Feel good about your creative and not-cookie cutter team. And then cry because the big 5 demolish you by randomly mashing buttons.

Doubles President

Actually, I've found that having a "sweeper" is almost a liability on Trick Room unless said sweeper carries the move. You might think that you'll be able to set up Trick Room and send in Conkeldurr, but sometimes that just isn't the case - your sweepers will need as much time as possible, making Offensive Trick Room users excellent. For example, OTR Victini (gets slower with V-Create) and OTR Reuniclus make an excellent offensive core, each setting up Trick Room and hitting hard right off the bat. It's also not a bad idea to carry a pinch Scarfer in case you lose Trick Room and have to get rid of something NOW.

Moderator

How does PS! "deviation" work? In the suspect thread I've heard of a bunch of people chain forfeiting to lower their deviation. Glicko is a sort of averages against everyone to act as a general score, but what is deviation exactly?

Moderator

Deviation is how much your rank can "deviate" based upon a win. There's a wide margin for your first few matches to help get you settled, and then it gradually goes down as it cements you roughly where you belong, with the possibility for slow increases/decreases in rank afterwards.

In theory.

In practice it's just a test of "Okay do I get to keep this alt or will it get RNG screwed within my high deviation matches?"

Thanks for the help with the Trick Room question, guys! I actually made a team to test in PO last night (wasn't sure how much it would work or if I'd have any gaping weaknesses). The results were... interesting.

Of course, I did lose a few times, as happens with any team ever, but... The amount of forfeits I got after a couple KOs was astounding! I had more last-second forfeit wins than normal wins! I don't know if I just got extremely lucky with some battles or what, but there was a point where I was hoping the opponent would stay and finish the battle.

I couldn't find a Simple Questions thread in the RMT forum, so I'm posting this here.

How do people create those in-post animated sprites? I can't seem to figure out how to create them for myself.

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Here you can find a webpage with all the sprites of all pokemons. Just go there, search for the pokemon you want and Right-Click it and select the option "Copy image URL".

Once you are making your RMT, there are two ways to put the animated sprite.
1.- you write this tags:
2.- Search for the Image button in the bar above the white square where you are writing. Click the button and then a tiny window will pop-up. Paste the link of the sprite there.

If I am running Modest LO Landorus-I with 252 Speed, what kind of pokemons I'm able to outspeed?

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Well, you hit 301 speed with 252 speed EVs, which, obviously means you outspeed neutral natured base 100's like the Pixies, Salamence, Volcarona, etc. but usually those things are max speed anyway, so they don't really count (except Volcarona, but whatever). If you invest to the point where you have 296 speed, you'll outspeed Modest Hydreigon, which you can OHKO with Focus Blast, but if you don't outspeed it, it can OHKO you with Draco Meteor. If you run 188 speed EVs, you will always outspeed positive nature Mamoswine, Dragonite, and most importantly, Venusaur. That means that with a Rock Polish boost, you will outspeed and OHKO Timid Venusaur in the sun. With a Modest nature, I would recommend that speed tier, because outspeeding Venusaur is hugely important. Plus, that frees you up to put 64 EVs in HP, which gives you a little extra bulk.

Eviolite Wynaut is not viable at all as what it traps usually can beat it, and is by far outclassed by Wobbuffet due its superior HP/Bulk and viability, while also having access to recovery in Leftovers.

Would someone be willing to trade me a female DW Sableye that I could breed myself? I can offer a Virizion, Terrakion, or Cobalion of any nature. If these don't appeal, contact me with a counter offer and I'll see what I can do, thanks.